Two more Carver solar panels stolen

The Thursday night theft brings the total to 25 of 330 panels taken from a Route 44 array. Carver’s police chief isn’t sure why the panels are being stolen

Lane Lambert

Thieves took two more solar panels from a Route 44 array Thursday night, and the police chief isn’t sure why.

“All we can do right now is speculate,” Chief Mike Miksch said Friday.

Meanwhile, he said State Police and town police are regularly patrolling that stretch of highway.

The latest theft raises the total to 25 taken in recent days from 330 panels installed along a stretch of highway easement. The array produces power for the town’s water treatment plant.

Miksch said Thursday’s theft may have been a “copy cat” act inspired by media reports of the previous thefts. He said it’s not clear whether thieves have taken the panels to sell the frames for scrap metal, or to resell the entire panels.

Solar panel frames are typically made of aluminum. Copper thefts have been on the rise in recent years, from construction sites and other places, but Miksch said the solar panels have only small amounts, in wiring that’s coated with insulation.

The Pennsylvania firm SolareAmerica installed the $500,000, 99-kilowatt array along a 600-foot section of easement. The firm leases the easement from the state and sells power to the North Carver Water District for electricity for the treatment plant.

The array went into operation in August. The first thefts were reported Monday. Police aren’t sure when the panels were taken.